“International Day of Zero Waste” is celebrated in UNESCO

AA / Paris / Esra Taskin

“March 30, International Day of Zero Waste” was celebrated in UNESCO.

Ambassador Gulnur Aybet, Permanent Representative of Turkey to UNESCO, Simona-Mirela Miculescu, President of the 42nd General Conference of UNESCO, Vera El Khoury Lakoeil, President of the Executive Board of UNESCO, Antonio de Sousa Abreu, Director of the UNESCO Department. The event was attended by the Secretary of Earth Sciences and Man and Biosphere along with many other guests.

Emine Erdogan, the wife of the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, celebrated the event with a video message.

During a ceremony held on Thursday, during which a video showing the work of Turkish municipalities in the Zero Waste project was shown, the participants signed a declaration of goodwill for the Zero Waste project.

In his speech, Ambassador Aybet said they came together to celebrate the International Zero Waste Day on March 30 and celebrated it for the second time at the UNESCO headquarters.

Noting that the International Zero Waste Day aims to raise awareness about waste production and minimize the impact of waste on the environment, the Turkish ambassador emphasized that this important day is a good opportunity to promote sustainable consumption and production.

“Every year in the world, billions of tons of waste are produced, polluting the soil, water and air,” he recalled, stressing that people must also rethink their relationship with the planet’s resources. .

Adopting zero-waste initiatives helps conserve natural resources and combat climate change, and is also an economic opportunity, Aybet said.

The ambassador explained that the zero waste project was started in 2017 under the patronage of Emine Erdogan.

According to him, the main goal of the “Zero Waste” project is to increase the waste recovery rate to 60% by 2035, adding that this project has brought 185 billion Turkish Liras to the Turkish economy since its inception.

Aybet also noted that thanks to this project, 490 million trees were saved and 5.9 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions were avoided.

– The “Zero Waste” project has become a global movement

Stating that 21 million people have been trained on the concept, Aybet noted that “a project that is successful has become a global movement. »

Simona-Mirela Miculescu, President of the 42nd General Conference of UNESCO, explained that according to the United Nations, 2.24 billion tons of municipal solid waste are produced annually worldwide, 931 million tons become food waste and 37 million tons of plastic. Waste is dumped into the oceans.

He confirmed that this waste damages ecosystems and expressed admiration for Emine Erdogan for his contribution to the paradigm shift in waste and environment issues in his country.

Vera El Khoury Lakoeille, President of the Governing Council of UNESCO, emphasized that everyone should pay attention to the origin of the products they buy and their effects.

Lacoille emphasized the importance of reusing and recycling products when possible and the importance of raising children’s awareness of this issue.

Noting that women have an important role to play in sustainable consumption, she recalled that women play a real pioneering role in environmental protection.

Antonio de Souza Abreu, for his part, noted that billions of tons of waste are produced in the world every year and continued: “Therefore, UNESCO is very grateful to the Turkish delegation for this initiative, which emphasizes the vital importance. Moving towards zero waste”.

– Zero waste project

The Zero Waste Project, launched in 2017 by the Turkish Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change under the leadership of Emin Erdogan, aims to control waste within the framework of sustainable development principles and enable a clean and developed Turkey. A living world for future generations.

Within the framework of the zero waste project, the regulation, which was prepared for the purpose of introducing, introducing and spreading the zero waste approach throughout the country, by defining the general principles of the establishment of the zero waste management system and the principles of implementation, came into force. After publication in the Official Journal of July 12, 2019 and numbered 30829.

Since 2018, Turkey has been organizing Zero Waste Summits, where national and international experts in the fields of environment and sustainability, institutions and organizations, non-governmental organizations, private sector representatives and individuals gathered on one platform.

– Resolution “Zero Waste” adopted at the UN General Assembly.

In September 2022, Emine Erdogan met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York during the 77th UN General Assembly meetings, and both signed the “Global Goodwill Declaration on Zero Waste” to combat the climate crisis.

On December 14, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on zero waste, with Turkey as the main leader and 105 countries as co-leaders.

With this resolution, the General Assembly declared March 30 as the International Zero Waste Day and asked the UN Secretary-General to establish a three-year advisory board composed of volunteers and eminent persons based on their knowledge, experience and expertise, taking into account gender balance. and equitable geographic representation, promoting local and national zero waste initiatives.

The resolution, which emphasizes that zero waste initiatives, environmentally friendly waste management and sustainable consumption and production issues should be discussed within the UN framework, calls on member states, the United Nations and other international and regional organizations to take more initiatives on this topic. .

*Translated from Turkish by Nursena Karakaya